Harboring Unforgiveness

Galatians 5:22-33 (KJV) Says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:  against such there is no law." Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV) Says, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you:  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior others should be able to see the fruit of the Spirit listed in the above verses of scripture taken from the book of Galatians in us. It is through seeing the fruit of the Spirit in us that many people notice that there is something different about us. That difference is the light of Christ, and that light will hopefully lead lost souls to conclude that they want what we have.  It is our hope that once they recognize the divine peace, comfort, and joy that we have in our lives along with the fruits of the Spirit that they too will choose to accept Christ and his precious gift of salvation.

As born again believers in Jesus Christ the fruit of the Spirit is what others should see in us. There are things, however, that prevent the fruit of the Spirit from being obvious in our lives, and one of those things is harboring unforgiveness in our heart. It is not possible to have unforgiveness in our hearts and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in a sincere manner because when we are unforgiving we are carrying bitterness toward someone or some group of people, and that bitterness is quite evident to others. God knows when we are harboring unforgiveness and he takes it seriously. It is of great importance that we forgive others as Christ forgives us. The above verses of scripture taken from the book of Matthew make it clear that, if we do not forgive others then God will not forgive us. Not only does harboring unforgiveness in our heart damage our witness for Christ in our everyday lives, but it also prevents God from forgiving us.

Forgiving an individual or a group of people can be very difficult and emotional. It may take time and be a process that we have to work through for a while. The good news is that God knows our hearts, and he is well aware of whether or not we are sincerely working toward forgiving. If you are harboring unforgiveness in your heart, I urge you to go to God in prayer and ask him to help you to forgive the person or people who have hurt you in some way. Forgiving gets you back in right standing with God, it frees you to live your life in a manner that allows the fruit of the Spirit to shine brightly through you in a manner that is sincere, and when we forgive it is pleasing to God. Harboring unforgiveness steals our joy, and leaves us in a constant state of restlessness where we will remain until we do the right thing, and forgive. I  encourage you to begin work on forgiving all that you need to forgive, and to do so immediately. Don't go through another day carrying bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness in your heart. I encourage you to remember that Christ forgives us of our sins and if he being perfect and sinless can do that it is certain that we can forgive one another.

If you have a prayer request and would like me to pray for you, leave me a message and I will be more than happy to do so. May God bless you!